Fractured Soul (29 page)

“No!” I said. Light exploded into my palm, and I tossed it hard at Liam. It hit him square in the chest. I made three more balls and drilled each one at Liam, who was trying hard to keep quiet, but I knew they were hurting him.

When I was sure Liam had been rendered temporarily useless, I went to him and kicked him hard in the stomach until he curled up and ceased to move. My hands burned bright with Light, and I pressed them to his back. This time he couldn’t hold in the pain. He cried out as Light spread throughout his whole body.

I thought I might actually kill him, but then something peculiar began to happen. The rush of Light, which wasn’t just consuming Liam but me too, began to absorb the Vyken’s darkness inside me—the part that thirsted for revenge and the lifeblood of every living thing. And it was a different kind of Light than what I was used to using, one that was filled with concern and love for Christian. My mind became clear for the first time in a long time, and I was able to see how the Vyken’s poison had worked itself into my heart. It scared me to realize how much control it had over me. I let go of Liam and stumbled back onto the floor. “I’m so sorry,” I said, mortified.

Christian scooted over to me, protecting his left arm. “What happened? Why are you apologizing?”

My voice was quiet. “The poison. I thought I was controlling it, but . . . I’m an idiot. Liam saved me.” I looked at Liam. He was lying flat on his stomach; his face etched in pain, but he did manage a smile. Just barely. “You knew. You knew I needed to use Light.”

“But you have been using it,” Christian said. “Just the other night.”

I shook my head. “I needed to use it out of love. I haven’t done that for a very long time. Not since Tracey died. All the other times, even just now when I wanted to go kill Cyrus, I thought my actions were out of love for my friend, but they weren’t. I wanted to fight him, and everyone, because I love the feeling of contention, and because I yearn to kill.” I glanced at Christian to see his reaction. His face was blank.

“I still don’t understand,” Christian said, and I knew he never would.

I crawled over to Liam. “How bad is it?”

“I’ll survive.”

“I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Just remember what you’ve learned. Only use your power for good.” He took a deep breath like it was painful to breathe.

I touched him lightly. “I will. I promise.”

The next morning I woke early. I looked around for Christian, thinking he might’ve returned after helping Liam outside of the school, but my room was empty. Poor Christian. He hadn’t understood what had happened and was upset that I asked him to help Liam.

“I should be trying to kill him, not helping him walk,” Christian had said. He softened a little when Liam popped his shoulder back into joint and told Christian he could have three free hits as soon as he recovered.

Before I left my room, I glanced out the window. I didn’t recoil from the bright morning sun like I usually did. Instead it gave me hope. I breathed in deeply, feeling better than I had in a long time.

At breakfast I told May and Kiera what had happened to Tessa. Both of them were shocked and really freaked out. “You have to get Sophie to close Lucent,” May said, clasping her hands together tightly. “Even if it’s just for a little while. Someone needs to figure out what’s going on before anyone else gets hurt.”

I looked around the crowded dining room. All these girls: sitting, laughing, eating, having no idea that their world was about to be ripped apart. They were the victims in all this. I sighed. “I know. That’s what Liam and Christian said too.” Both of them were visibly upset after I told them what the Vyken had said about dead bodies filling the garbage.

“Do you think Sophie will listen to you?” Kiera asked. Dark circles were under her eyes, and I wondered how much sleep she was getting.

“I hope so. I guess I can always call in a bomb threat or something if she doesn’t.”

*  *  *  *  *

I waited all through breakfast for Sophie, but she never showed. I looked for her in the halls in between classes but didn’t see her there either. At lunchtime I decided to skip lunch to go in search of her. I found her in the teacher’s lounge standing at a microwave that hummed softly. By the smell of it she was cooking an Asian dish. Something with curry in it.

“Hello, Llona. How are you today?” she said.

“Fine.”

“I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“That’s good. You should study as much as you can.”

I laughed.
If only.

“Is something funny?”

I cleared my throat and made my face go serious. “I need to talk to you,” I said. “It’s important.”

The microwave beeped. “Okay. Come to my office with me while I eat. You want some?”

“No thanks.”

Holding a container of steaming rice and chicken in one hand and silverware in the other, Sophie went to her office. I followed her.

“Mind if I close this?” I asked, my hand on the door.

“Go right ahead.”

I closed the door and sat down while Sophie sifted through the rice with a fork. I thought carefully before I spoke, knowing any wrong word would shut Sophie off from me for good. “So,” I began, “remember how you told me that my mother was too trusting? That she let people into her life too easily?”

Sophie mumbled an “Uh-huh” through a bite.

“I don’t remember much about my mother, but from everything my father said about her she was trusting, but she wasn’t stupid. She always tried to do the right thing. I’m sure you knew that my parents also moved around a lot.”

Sophie put her fork down and stared at me. I couldn’t tell by her blank expression if she was angry or just simply listening intently. I continued, “It took some time for Lander to scheme his way into their lives. My parents were manipulated. It could’ve happened to anyone, even another Aura.”

Sophie shifted her position in the chair. More upright. “I don’t know about that.”

“Sophie, do you trust me?”

She didn’t say anything, but her lips tightened and twisted like she was having a really hard time coming up with an answer.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Sophie. Do you think I would ever do anything to purposely hurt you or your reputation?”

“Of course not, but sometimes I think you can be impulsive. And when you’re impulsive, you unknowingly hurt those around you.”

I shook my head, realizing I was about to get into a debate I didn’t want to have. “Look, I just need to know that you’ll believe what I’m about to tell you. I have no reason to make it up.”

“How about you start telling me what’s going on, and we’ll go from there, okay?”

I took a deep breath. On my exhale, I began telling her about the pills. This conversation led into Cyrus and his assistant and how they were Vykens. I ignored Sophie’s skeptical expression, and even her occasional smile, and kept talking even though she tried to stop me several times. I told her about how they were taking our blood and selling it to Vykens, and how they’d kidnapped Tessa. And finally I ended by telling her about the attack on the school sometime in the next few days. The only thing I didn’t tell her about was the Shadow.
Resolve one problem at a time.
“What I need you to do, Aunt Sophie, is tell all the girls to go home for the rest of the week. They can’t be here. It’s not safe.” Finally, I was quiet.

Sophie leaned back in her chair. She said nothing for almost a full minute. I opened my mouth to say something else, maybe she needed more convincing, but she stopped me. “That’s quite a story you’ve told,” she said. “Do you have any proof?”

I thought for a moment. “I’d show you the blood bags that have been replaced with Vyken blood, but because you’ve been taking the pills, you won’t be able to tell the difference. I guess I could have you talk to Liam, but you might think he’s lying. Same with May and Kiera.”

“You got them involved in this?” For some reason this seemed to upset her more than anything else. “Who else have you spoken to?”

“Are you saying you believe me?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying just yet.”

And then I remembered something. “Of course I have proof. The secret room in Cyrus’s office where I found Tessa.”

“You are the one that found Tessa?” She shook her head. “Wait, what secret room?”

I nodded excitedly and told her about what had happened, but I conveniently left out the part of me going all invisible. That was something I didn’t want to share quite yet since it just didn’t seem as important as everything else.

“The first chance I get I’ll check it out,” Sophie said.

This alarmed me. “But you must be careful. In fact, maybe you should have me go with you. If any Vykens found you, I know they would kill you.”

Sophie laughed, and I couldn’t tell if it was because she didn’t think I could protect her or that a Vyken could kill her. “Why are you laughing?” I asked.

She cleared her throat. “So dramatic, Llona. Just like your mother.”

I sunk into my chair. “You don’t believe me.”

“No, no. I do believe there is something to your story. I mean, it’s so elaborate, how could you make it all up? And there is the fact that Auras are being attacked outside our school. No, something strange is going on, but there’s no way Cyrus is a part of it. If something’s going on, it’s without his knowledge. Let me conduct my own investigation. And for your own piece of mind, I’ll be careful.”

“Please do. It’s important. I don’t want to lose you too.”

Sophie stood and walked around her desk. She leaned down and gave me a hug. I hugged her back, inhaling the smell of cinnamon laced with curry.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I promise,” she said. After a short moment, Sophie let go and looked at me. “You may not know this, Llona, but I’m good at adapting. This skill has put me where I’m at today.”

“What do you mean?”

Sophie just smiled, like she knew some great secret. “I’ll talk to you soon, Llona.”

*  *  *  *  *

I left Sophie’s office feeling conflicted. I wasn’t sure what she was going to do, and it didn’t seem she believed me about Cyrus, but it was a start. If she wasn’t convinced by tomorrow, then I’d call in that bomb threat—every day if I had to.

The rest of the day went quickly. After school I worked with Kiera, trying to teach her all I knew, but there just wasn’t enough time. I wished I had a few months. When we were finished, I spoke to Tessa. She was staying at the Deific office in New York. The way she spoke about the place and the people, I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to find out more about them.

When we were done talking, Tessa handed the phone to Liam. He sounded weak and tired, but he assured me that he would be back to normal within a day.

I saw Christian that night; the two of us shared a quiet dinner in my room. Kiera was watching May practice with Dr. Han, hoping she could pick up on an idea or two that might make her Light stronger. All of us were trying to prepare, but tonight I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I just wanted to be here with Christian, as if we were the only ones in the world.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. We were sitting next to each other, leaning against the wall. A box of half-eaten pizza lay next to us.

“Just wishing we could do this every night.”

He squeezed my hand. “We will. Soon you’ll leave Lucent. We’ll get married. Move to the coast. Have children. Maybe a dog.” He paused. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

I wasn’t sure how I looked, but I did know my heart had stopped beating. “What did you say?”

“Um, that we’d have a dog? You don’t like dogs? Maybe we could get a—”

“No. The part about us getting married.”

“Oh. Well, we will, won’t we? I mean, I know I haven’t officially proposed, and we’re both still young, but I just can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. You’re my plan, Llona. Wherever we go, whatever happens, I want to be in your life. Always.”

When I didn’t say anything, he quickly added, “When the time’s right, of course. No need to rush things.” His face turned red. “I freaked you out, didn’t I? Sorry. I just—”

I threw my arms around him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Llona.” He hugged me back. I sunk into him and rested my head on his chest.

“You’re my forever, Llona,” he said and kissed my forehead.

And I believed he was mine.

*  *  *  *  *

The next morning, earlier than normal, chimes sounded, but they weren’t the normal chimes signaling mealtime. They were the “mandatory meeting” chimes. I slid out of bed and got dressed. After combing my hair to my “bad” side, I pulled on a beanie and left my room. The halls were crowded and filled with excited voices.

“I bet we’re having another dance,” one girl said as I passed. Another said, “Maybe we’re getting some new teachers.”

I dodged in and out of the girls until I found May.

“What do you think this is about?” May said.

“Maybe my talk with Sophie actually worked.” I hoped.

Other than being more crowded than usual, the dining room was the same as always. Lizens carried trays of food to Auras who were huddled around the tables, looking happier than they had been in a long time. It made me ill. The smell of pancakes and citrus circulated throughout the room. Comfort food.

Kiera waved us over from across the room where she had saved two seats. On the way over, Tessa’s mother caught my attention. She smiled and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

When I reached the table, I didn’t sit down right away. I glanced around the room looking for Sophie. I found her at the front talking to several teachers. She met my gaze and acknowledged me with a nod.

Kiera pulled me into a chair. “What’s going on?” she said.

“We’ll know soon enough.”

A few minutes later Sophie walked to the front podium. “Can I have your attention? Girls, please. Sit down. I have an announcement.”

The girls hurried toward a seat and waited expectantly. Just then Cyrus walked in. I think it was the first time I’d seen him in the dining room. It must have been a first for the others too, because they looked just as shocked. Cyrus went straight to Sophie and whispered something in her ear. She shook her head and motioned for him to sit down. He did not look happy.